Rob's Bachelor Party

Posted on Tuesday, April 12, 2011 by Stalker

By Stalker Steve

We all piled into an RV to celebrate Rob's upcoming wedding. Then we hit up some random parks and spots on the way to the Florida Skater Hall of Fame and had one of the best trips in recent memory in the process.

I'd rather tell the story of our trip with photos, but considering the night spots we hit up on Saturday night in Jacksonville weren't too camera-friendly, I have to type this out:

Our cab driver, an Asian guy with dreads named Freddy, picked us up and discovered we skated while making small talk and asked, "Yo, you guys know Clyde Singleton?"

"Hell yeah we know Clyde," everyone replied.

Next thing you know our driver had called him and Clyde was helping us celebrate. Oh wait, so was our cab driver. Yep, our cab driver was partying along side us at the “bikini bar.” Then Angel, Colin, and I are along for an adventure and tour of Jacksonville with Clyde and Freddy. Clyde caught us up on what he'd been up to since moving back to Florida as we accompanied him. Glad he’s doing well.

"There's not one person on this trip I wouldn't want to do this with again," Brian appropriately stated on the last day. And with that we went home, and back to reality.

Brian showed up with this box of party supplies. Okay, let's get in the RV.

This is the crew that got together to help celebrate with Rob. L to R: Porpe, Seamus, Brian, Justin, AK, Colin, the bachelor, Wayne, Durke, Kyle, Clements, Jesse, and Angel.

Our first stop was this bank spot near Lakeland. Rob got the trick of the session with this big frontside ollie.
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Rob Meronek

The c-lo games started going within 15 minutes of us hitting the road towards Daytona. Durke was creepin' on a come up and kept his dough in his glasses arm.
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Durke Schmidt

Our first stop was so fun. Would you think there's anything skateable back in these woods?

Rob has a few tricks on lock and the blunt fakie is one of them.
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Rob Meronek

This is another addition to this insane DIY spot deep in the Florida woods. I thought no one had anything for this thing they call the “fiber rider.” Justin told me he got a grind while we weren't looking.

We got to Kona and immediately skated the huge banked bowls. Justin came through on a kickflip to fakie.
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Justin Ryan

Rob's friend Jesse doesn't skate, but came along to hang and still skated a bit. Rob can't help but document and filmed Jesse's cruising line.

Porpe loved the banked bowls at Kona, saying it made him feel like Grant Taylor. Frontside ollie over the hip.
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Jorge Angel aka Porpe

This kid’s Nascar helmet was 100% Florida.

As much as Rob loves his joke about the leopard print pads, we were all blown away at this guys tri-fecta of elbow, wrist, and knee pads.

There are some straight archaic ramps at Kona. This concrete vert ramp is sketchy.

Adam Kearley and Rob were cracking up. Maybe at some leopard print pads or just enjoying time out of town with the bros.
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Adam Kearley

We stopped at Stone Edge on the way home and Justin snapped this backside ollie.
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Justin Ryan

My friend Jesse has been a camera nerd his whole life. Just when I thought I was starting to get to the point of taking photos I think are good and I'm happy with, I see him shoot the same weekend as me and think, "Damn, I got a long way to go." Check out Jesse's photos here. He uses an old rangefinder that captures color and light in a pretty unique way.

It wasn't long before Stalker Steve was out. Clem is the first of a few pass out poses.
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Stalker Steve

Just minutes after this photo, I had most of their money in my hands, but it didn't last for the whole trip.

Wayne Schaefer, still taking money from Kyle and Angel who's looking over it. I think he got taken out on at least three trip six rolls.
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Angel Carela

If I remember the sequence of events correctly, Porpe was up in dice, celebrating here, lost it all, was put back in the game by some charity betting, then ended up cleaning everyone out. Amazing.
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Jorge Angel aka Porpe

Porpe vs. the Schaefer brothers. I can't believe he won. Both of them were done in about an hour.
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Brian Schaefer

Yeah, we're all grown ass men, but how are you going to let these two napping documenters just sit there and peacefully sleep?
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Colin Clark